Never To Become
2007
top to bottom: Fort Zac installation view, Casa Lin venue front view
sound installation composition, audio recording, outdoor speakers, and CD Player
2 minute and 34 second continuous loop
Never To Become is a site-specific sound composition that consists of two speakers deceptively installed in a backyard garden. In one speaker we hear a music box playing, recorded at the end of its wind as if it is on the verge of fading out at any moment and needing to be wound up again.
The song being played is Lara’s Theme from the film Doctor Zhivago. The song in the film points at nostalgia and a longing for something that can never be. The other speaker placed high in the tree emits sounds of nature—birds chirping etc.. These sounds almost go unnoticed melding with the actual sounds at the site; until a crescendo of a swarm of bees comes in and drowns out the music box.
Using the opening credits to David Lynch’s Blue Velvet as a catalyst for creating the work. What is at once pleasant in suburbia has an underlying darkness that is revealed. The sound work Never To Become functions eerily in an ambiguous space between threat and longing. This melding creates a new composition acting as a sort of symphony to pay tribute to the site. The use of sound as a medium acts as a three-dimensional surrogate, filling the space with sound waves rather than traditional matter.